


Christmas with the Quinns

by WakeUpDreaming



Series: Holla to the Holidays: December 2015 Collection [18]
Category: Scorpion (TV 2014)
Genre: Alcohol, Awkward Conversations, Christmas Fluff, Christmas Parties, Domestic Quintis, F/M, Hiding in a Bathroom, Meet the Family
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-26
Updated: 2015-12-26
Packaged: 2018-05-09 11:08:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,528
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5537639
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WakeUpDreaming/pseuds/WakeUpDreaming
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Happy's been invited to the Quinn family Christmas party for the first time, and, even though she brought Toby, she just can't handle it. So she's hiding in the bathroom.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Christmas with the Quinns

**Author's Note:**

> Written for mightyloveoak's prompt "I have a giant extended family and you barely have any family at all and this whole Christmas routine is getting tiresome for me but I can tell that you’re really enjoying yourself because it’s something you never got to do and watching you interact with my ancient relatives is fucking adorable” Thank you!

Happy has a family.

Happy has cousins and aunts and uncles, and all of them want to meet her, talk to her, see her. She has grandparents – a grandmother and a grandfather who she hasn’t seen since she was an infant, but who want to be part of her life.

Happy is currently hiding in the bathroom because it's all way too much.

She’s sitting up against a wall in a stranger’s bathroom while her boyfriend and father are talking it up with her family members, and she can’t even breathe around these people.

Happy’s been alone for so long that knowing this many people who want to talk to her, want to be near her, who want to know her – it’s terrifying.

There’s a knock on the door, and Happy pushes herself up, managing to get that stupid pencil skirt Paige told her to wear hiked up around her hips so she can't move. The door pushes open.

“Someone’s in here!” Happy says, her voice sounding high pitched and panicked.

She calms immediately when it’s Toby who walks into the bathroom. “Oh, good, it’s you,” she says.

“You’ve been in here twenty minutes,” Toby says, quietly. “Just wanted to check on you.”

Happy checks behind him and then kicks it closed. “There’s so many people,” is all she can manage.

He smiles at her and opens his arms. Happy drops her head against his chest, her arms at her sides. “Somebody’s a grumpy gill,” Toby says.

She whacks him gently in the side, then wraps her arms around his waist. He kisses her the top of her head. “What can I do to help?” he asks. “Do you want to leave?”

“Yes,” Happy says automatically. “No. I don’t know.” She lifts her head up. “You know how long it took me to get used to you. Now all these people want to hug me and kiss me and,” she shudders, “know things about me. I’ve never had a family before and now I have too damn much of it.”

He rubs her back a little bit. “Well,” says Toby, “I’ll stay with you the whole time. I’ll do the talking, and you can just stand there looking beautiful.”

She groans. “You always have to throw in something like that,” she says, smiling a little bit.

“Of course I do,” Toby says, “because it’s true.”

Eventually Happy agrees to go back out into the battlefield, and she only realizes how it looks when her aunt leans in and says, “He’s quite a catch – I used to do the same in holiday parties with your uncle.” And then there's a wink.

Happy feels herself blush as Toby says, “Aunt Maisie, you’re hilarious.”

Aunt Maisie waves a hand. “You keep him close, Happy,” she says with a wink, “he’s a keeper.”

“Are all of them going to do that?” Happy asks as they get into the kitchen. “Because that’s the third aunt who’s told me I should marry you.”

Toby’s eyebrows shoot up in the middle of pouring himself a glass of apple cider. “They’ve said what now?”

Happy shrugs. “One of them told me that if I didn’t put a ring on it, she would.”

Toby nods. “Was it your cousin Stacey? Because she’s extremely drunk right now.” He wrinkles his nose. "She leered at me. I didn't know girls leered."

“No,” says Happy, “but she told me you had a ‘smackable ass’ which I don’t disagree with.”

Toby chokes on the apple cider. “I don’t feel comfortable talking to your cousin Stacey anymore,” he says, making a strange face.

“It was Aunt Carrie, for the record,” Happy says. “The one who wanted to put a ring on it.”

Toby considers it. “I mean, she does look good for in her sixties.”

They make their way back into mingling, and with Toby’s hand resting on her lower back Happy can handle the conversation when it’s directed to her. It's easiest when she's talking to the kids, Happy realizes. It surprises her. They're small and cute and impressed by her knowledge of cars, and there's this twelve year old cousin of hers who told her she was the, "Coolest adult ever!" when she told the story of when Happy and Toby stole that motorcycle.

Mostly, though, Toby talks and Happy nods until she’s comfortable interjecting. It grows easier and easier as the night wears on, and not just because she's dumped some fireball in her apple cider.

Eventually he starts chatting up Aunt Carrie, and Happy can’t keep herself from laughing when he asks her if she was serious.

“I don’t know, Carrie,” Toby says, grinning. “I mean, this one here’s a catch, but," he gestures to her.

Carrie blushes and waves him off. “Oh, you’re such a flirt,” she says. Toby turns to speak with Happy's grandfather.

Carrie rests her hand on Happy's arm/ “I told you, honey. He’s a great one.”

“He's okay,” Happy jokes, smiling. “He’s miserable to work with, though.”

Carrie laughs and Happy feels actually good about a conversation with a stranger. “They’re difficult in one way or another, honey. If you ever become parents, you’ll see.”

Carrie’s the first person to not say, “When.” The first ever, when the conversation comes up. And Happy is so startled that she just nods and says, “Uhuh.”

“Happy, sweetheart, your grandmother is leaving,” Toby says, his hand settling firmly on Happy’s hip. “We should go say goodbye, yeah?”

Happy nods, walking in the direction Toby’s guiding her.

“And my grandmother is…?” she asks.

“Just wanted to get out of that conversation,” Toby says. “Baby talk is so not in my wheelhouse tonight.”

Happy exhales. “Oh, god, you’ve gotten that too?” she says. “I can barely handle them asking about you, and then, like, four people asked about babies.” She gestures to her boots, leather jacket, and skinny jeans. “Do I look like a baby person?”

“If you want to be someday, sure, but I’m super not ready right now,” Toby says.

Happy nods. “Good. In agreement. Let’s go talk to Grandma.”

Conversations are kept ridiculously light by Toby and Happy sharing random work stories, and Toby is disturbingly good at figuring out when the conversation is about to flood into an off-limits topic. That"s when he calls in one of the older relatives and compliments them on something inane.

Before they know it people have started to leave, and Toby taps gently on Happy’s arm.

“Oh, Toby,” she says, “we need to head home.” She’s hoping that tapping was a signal. She’s got no idea.

He nods. “Right,” he says. “Work in the morning.”

“On a Sunday?” Uncle Abel asks.

“Yes?” Happy almost asks.

“Worldwide crises never sleep,” Toby adds.

Patrick gives Happy a tight hug before they leave, and thanks her five or ten times before he lets go.

“It was nothing, Dad,” she says, feeling a little stuck. “Really. It’s okay. It was," she searches for her words, "it was nice to meet everybody."

He steps away, his hands on her shoulders. “They love you so much,” he tells her. “I’m so glad you finally got to meet them.”

Happy nods, feeling a little overwhelmed. “I’m glad I met them too,” she agrees.

When they get to the car, Toby slides into the driver’s seat and flops down. “Holy shit,” he says. “There were so many people.”

Happy turns to him. “Yeah, also, you’re driving because?”

“I think you underestimated just how much fireball we put into your apple cider,” Toby says. “Trust the doctor, okay?”

“I do trust you,” Happy says, pulling on her seat belt. "Just not your driving."

They drive in an easy silence for a while, Toby's fingertips tapping on the steering wheel to the Christmas music on the radio.

“I can’t believe we just met all those people and I didn’t die,” Happy says after a while. “And you managed to buffer every awkward situation.”

“I did?” Toby asks, looking surprised. “Because I was scared out of my mind. I think I forgot all of my behaviorism training."

Happy looks at him. "You were that worried?"

"Duh," Toby replies, "I had to seriously impress these people.”

“Why?"

He glances at her. “I mean,” he gestures between the two of them, “we're a thing. I want to make sure they like me.”

Happy's got a bit of an idea where this is going, but she almost wants to make him say it. “Because?”

Toby groans. “Because, in the future, if we do get married or have babies,” Happy shoots him a look at the red light. “I said if!” Toby clarifies. “But if. If. I want them to want me to be part of the family.”

“I think they all want to marry you, so you’re in the clear,” Happy says, rolling her eyes. But Happy takes Toby’s hand. “But for the record?” she says. “I’m glad I get to keep you. Whatever that means.”

He turns to her. “I’m just glad I survived the party.” Happy pinches his hand. “And I love you very much,” Toby adds.

“Good,” she says, “because I was getting worried you were into Carrie.”


End file.
